Primecap Management Co. CA Sells 64,470 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Primecap Management Co. CA cut its holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 8.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 701,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 64,470 shares during the quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA owned about 0.28% of Discover Financial Services worth $98,448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DFS. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 109.5% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 207,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,176,000 after purchasing an additional 108,694 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 38,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,418,000 after buying an additional 545 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 4,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $653,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $669,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 6,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DFS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.81.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of DFS stock opened at $175.01 on Friday. Discover Financial Services has a 12 month low of $85.19 and a 12 month high of $188.26. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $151.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.26. The firm has a market cap of $43.94 billion, a PE ratio of 14.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 21.38%. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.59 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is 22.60%.

About Discover Financial Services

Discover Financial Services, through its subsidiaries, provides digital banking products and services, and payment services in the United States. It operates in two segments, Digital Banking and Payment Services. The Digital Banking segment offers Discover-branded credit cards to individuals; personal loans, home loans, and other consumer lending; and direct-to-consumer deposit products comprising savings accounts, certificates of deposit, money market accounts, IRA certificates of deposit, IRA savings accounts and checking accounts, and sweep accounts.